Media, Politics & Social Change

Lesson 67 The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

I found myself once again this week in a conversation about my work being either about “spinning” or “covering up.” The assumption is that we in marketing and communication either are promoting unreal ideals, or covering up some awful truth. This gets really tiring after a while. And what makes it even worse is that I usually respond with a not very diplomatic, or persuasive, “Come on…you must know truth is my business!” Not persuasive, I say, because this snide remark always only produces a sarcastic chuckle.

When I reflect on the times I have dealt with sensitive issues or crises my recollection is that my aim always was to determine the essential facts, identify what we were going to do, and then communicate all this as clearly and as soon as possible. But, if it was a hot issue, or a serious crisis, aggressive reporters would often look for what seemed like needless details, or side stories, or go for privacy invading interviews, all with the purpose of keeping the story hot, selling more papers, or attracting more viewers. What’s more, I also often found myself saying, “All we want is to get the facts of the story told clearly, including what we intend to do, and then move on.” To me, truth really is my business, but today’s 24-7, high-speed news actually makes it extremely difficult to accomplish.

In the cases where I am in the role of advancing brand identity or institutional programs, I also know that only truth has credibility. Stretching it too far will be counter-productive. But here I must admit that we face the dilemma of “the self-fulfilling prophecy.” We know in marketing that if we can use language to insprire, but clearly stay within the boundaries of truth, that people in institutions will stretch to achieve even more. That is using the power of strategic communication to help move organizations forward.

But, those who stretch the truth too far give us all a bad name. Therefore, we need to become better critics of our profession, or the public will never understand the greater good that we do… and we will always have the title, “Spin Doctor,” inserted after our name.